Eric Ryan and Adam Lowry of Method | photo by Suzy Poling
In thinking about their own business, the partners recognized that as branding experts, they could just as well create original products too. “We would rather invent the next VitaminWater than do the ads for VitaminWater,” says partner Carl Johnson. So while half of Anomaly’s business is doing client work, the other half is building brands from scratch. “What we’re really doing is generating profit from clients, then reinvesting in a venture fund for our intellectual properties,” Johnson says.
Anomaly’s Sand Hill Road–meets–Madison Avenue approach isn’t yet ubiquitous -- or dominant -- but it is showing results. Profitable in its first year of business, the New York–based agency has doubled its revenue every year since. In 2007, Anomaly brought in nearly $20 million, with new clients including Converse and Bluetooth-headset maker Jawbone. New businesses it has launched include Avec Eric, a culinary line with Le Bernardin chef Eric Ripert; Eu, a high-end skin care line with former Neutrogena chemist Tammy Ha; and EOS, a mass-market skin-care line. As the firm has gained momentum, the ad industry has taken notice: At least two of the major agency holding companies have offered to buy Anomaly in the past two years. Instead, after reaching their self-imposed max of 100 staffers this year, DeLand and crew opted to take an innovative approach to their own growth. Wary of becoming another large agency where creativity suffers with scale, Anomaly launched an offspring: Another Anomaly, an autonomous company with its own balance sheet, partners, clients, and an office just a few city blocks away.
The venture that best illustrates the Anomaly model is the luggage it created for Virgin America last year. Richard Branson’s new airline hired the team in 2005 to feed ideas into every part of its operations. Anomaly realized it could use the crew’s luggage as branding medium and brought in snowboard company Burton to help craft an edgy black suitcase with skateboard wheels and a removable cosmetics pouch. Sales from the luggage, which will be available commercially later this year, will be shared three ways among the companies. “What would have been a cost for Virgin is now an additional revenue stream,” says partner Johnny Vulkan. -- Danielle Sacks
Since 1982, designers, engineers, and architects have made Autodesk’s 2-D AutoCAD drafting programs the default choice for creating anything from buildings to sailboards. Last year, sales grew by more than 20%, and revenue reached $1.84 billion. Now Autodesk is targeting the latest growth area in product design: 3-D virtual prototyping that eliminates the need for building physical models. With the company’s Inventor software, designers can not only create a rendering that shows how a product will look (as with the Wuhan Blue Sky Chinese apartment project at left), but they can subject it to tests that show how different elements will respond to gravity or torque. What’s more, whereas competitors’ forays into 3-D prototyping were prohibitively expensive and hard to use, Inventor costs $5,300 and uses click-and-drag functionality that allows objects to be changed, redrawn, and saved as easily as in a Word document. As Buzz Kross, a VP at Autodesk, brags: “We’ve delivered this tool into the hands of designers. It has become one everybody can use.”
Rendering: Courtesy of Anderson Anderson Architecture. Photograph: Herman Miller Inc.
The first product to emerge from Herman Miller’s secret R&D lab in Michigan just over a year ago has nothing to do with the company’s signature Aeron chairs or modular office furniture. Convia Programmable Infrastructure transforms the way companies install electrical systems, letting you reconfigure an entire building -- lighting, outlets, even heat and A/C -- with only a two-button point-and-click wand. The result? Not just flexibility in managing space, but also up to 30% energy savings. Times are good at Herman Miller. Among the dozens of fresh developments in 2007 were a personal climate control unit adapted from automotive technology and a voice privacy system that scrambles cell-phone users’ voices to the ears of random passersby. Coming soon: office furniture with built-in cordless charging technology.
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Recent Comments | 14 Total
February 17, 2008 at 6:48pm by john ralston
sorry if this is a repeat - not sure the last post went thru.
I was surprised to see Prosper in this article for several reasons. Among them is high default rates - below is information from Prosper's site showing that defaults are 4.24% for the highest rated borrowers and 45% for the lowest rated borrowers (note actual default rates will be higher since some of these loans are only six months old).
Prosper, unlike other 2.0 firms, has squelched input from the community by deleting all the old forum postings and putting in a new process that screens all comments. Screening is usually fine, but many posts do not make it thru - seems like Prosper does not want its community to be engaged.
Here are the stats - hopefully they will make sense with this cut/paste...
Estimated ROI Help
Performance metric AA A B C D E HR
Average lender rate 10.74% 12.69% 15.05% 17.78% 20.81% 24.03% 23.80%
Net defaults -4.24% -7.01% -11.72% -15.63% -19.09% -29.65% -45.55%
Adjustment (interest and fees) -0.22% -0.43% -0.76% -1.21% -1.72% -2.85% -4.29%
Prosper servicing fee -0.49% -0.48% -0.70% -0.68% -0.67% -0.56% -0.53%
Average annual return 5.80% 4.77% 1.87% 0.25% -0.67% -9.02% -26.58%
Sorry this is not more positive, but I want to make sure you had perspective from someone who has been (was) a long term lender on Prosper.
John R.
February 19, 2008 at 12:00am by Jeremy Fretts
It is ironic to me as a user of AutoDesk products to see them on this list. I suppose their success as a business, and as a technology innovator merits #25. However, it is worth noting that many of their users are at best begrudging at accepting their market dominance.
In ten years of architectural practice, I can't say that I've met ANYONE who truly loved AutoDesk's products. In many cases, they are in fact loathed.
True competition would serve the industry well-- someone needs to inspire improvements to AutoDesk's user interfaces, help documentation, and pricing structure.
February 20, 2008 at 1:08pm by Mike Adam
Tesco's 'Fresh and Easy?' How innovative can that be? Trader Joe's has been around for years, and the concept sounds the same. They sell organics for prices you'd normally see for non-organic/natural at the grocery store, have fresh meat and produce, and are indeed just slightly larger than a 7-11. And yet, Trader Joes' has just about everything you need. They had $1 cliff bars while everyone else still had them $1.50-2.00.
February 20, 2008 at 2:08pm by Brock Stout
I suppose that each company can be argued with, but Toyota's inclusion made me laugh out loud. They helped invent just-in-time manufacturing (decades ago), but everything else, including auto designs, has been copied from other companies. Even in Japan, Toyota is known as the non-innovator, "borrowing" from competitors. Like most American press representatives, Fast Company just prints Toyota press releases without editing them. Sorry, I can't possibly take you seriously in the future on any issue.
February 20, 2008 at 11:54pm by Christoph Spitzenpfeil
I have to add a similar comment to this article about the 50 most innovative companies. I agree on Toyota as a co-commentator did before. The Lexus cars and even the new Camry are just design copies of the real innovator in the Auto industry - BMW, Mercedes, and Porsche; all three dare new technologies whereas Toyota only deploys them when these new technologies have proven themselves in the market.
I am also missing companies in this list which are helping making our environment cleaner and more livable. Where are those companies - the wind turbine and solar panel manufacturers? I am sorry Google, video game companies & Co. do not belong on this list as innovators. The world would be as good or as bad as it is now with or without them! Last but not least it would be nice if this list would contain more companies - and there are really good ones - from outside the English speaking hemisphere. Innovation does not always have only to do with good balance sheets, more sales, more entertainment, and higher volumes; the world has more difficult issues to deal with than those. This is where the list of the 50 most innovative companies massively falls short.
February 28, 2008 at 2:24am by akram uddin
shoukathalle007@gmail.com
March 18, 2008 at 8:52pm by Kristen Wachsmuth
I was surprised and disappointed that Walmart made your list. They have to do more than market energy saving lightbulbs and teach employees about sustainability to be considered a company that is making an environmental transformation. What about all the wetlands and marshes and land that is being destroyed to build their behemoth supercenters right down the street from their current store? Selling 100 million light bulbs in nine months does not make up for that.
August 9, 2009 at 2:36pm by Sergio Mokko
In my opinion, deservedly dominate google and apple. 2 the most innovative companies. By Sergio
August 15, 2009 at 10:36pm by Todd McCalla
There are several companies that looked next to the Cool Springs Galleria that could easily fit into the worlds most innovative companies list. They are startups totally bootstrapping all operations with not one person taking a dime in salary. Williamson County Tennessee, primarily Cool Springs, is a petri dish for venture capital and bright minds.
October 7, 2009 at 9:38pm by cartier jewelry
Nice Post!!
October 20, 2009 at 10:16pm by dd dd
There are several companies that looked next to the Cool Springs Galleria that could easily fit into the worlds most innovative companies list. They are startups totally bootstrapping all operations with not one person taking a dime in salary. Williamson County Tennessee, primarily Cool Springs, is a petri dish for venture capital and bright minds.
http://www.uggboots365.co.uk
October 21, 2009 at 11:29am by Howard Carl
Nike's latest masterstroke is social networking, online and off. From events to the Web to unique retail hubs, Nike is blurring the line between brand and experience. jeep grand cherokee
October 21, 2009 at 11:29am by Howard Carl
Nike's latest masterstroke is social networking, online and off. From events to the Web to unique retail hubs, Nike is blurring the line between brand and experience. jeep grand cherokee
November 23, 2009 at 2:09pm by Faraz Alam
I am big fan of google. I like the way the company has evolved. They are seriously best at web.
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